An Anosov diffeomorphism is a diffeomorphism
of a manifold
to itself such that the tangent
bundle of
is hyperbolic with respect to
. Very few classes of Anosov diffeomorphisms are known. The
best known is Arnold's cat map.
A hyperbolic linear map with integer entries
in the transformation matrix and determinant
is an Anosov diffeomorphism of the
-torus. Not every manifold admits
an Anosov diffeomorphism. Anosov diffeomorphisms are expansive,
and there are no Anosov diffeomorphisms on the circle.
It is conjectured that if is an Anosov diffeomorphism on a compact Riemannian manifold and the nonwandering set
of
is
, then
is topologically
conjugate to a finite-to-one factor of
an Anosov automorphism of a nilmanifold.
It has been proved that any Anosov diffeomorphism on the
-torus is topologically
conjugate to an Anosov automorphism, and
also that Anosov diffeomorphisms are
structurally stable.